Denny's
by MidnightDawn999
Summary: The hard truth about family road-trips. They weren't always easy. (NOT slash.) (One!Shots)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own about as much as a monkey can eat an elephant. **

Sam sighed and leaned an elbow against the door, index and thumb pinching the bridge of his nose. He breathed in a deep breath, widening his eyes and blinking, briefly stretching out. Several loud pops sounded, and the man didn't hide a cringe. "Where're we now?" he asked, and ran his right hand over and throw his hair, pushing it out of his face.

Dean glanced over at Sam for a moment, then back at the road. "We're a hundred miles outside Tulsa Oklahoma. You've been out of it for..." he looked at time, "'bout two hours." He smirked slightly. "I nearly put a spoon in your mouth... would've if I'd found one," he added.

Sam shot him an annoyed look, before he went back to rubbing a hand over his eyes. He ran both hands over his face and through his hair, holding it back, before he let them drop onto his legs. That's when he noticed it. A giant billboard with the words "Hurt? Call Burt," and a personal injury lawyer posing. He huffed an amused laugh.

"What?" Dean asked, wondering what Sam had suddenly decided was so humorous. He glanced at Sam again, wandering whether he'd jsut come to his senses, seeing that the joke had been funny, or if it was something else.

Sam looked over at his brother, and waved towards the window. "The attorney billboard? 'Hurt, call Burt'?" his voice grew strange when he repeated the motto, and he narrowed his eyes, shaking his head and throwing his arms up in a shrug.

Dean rolled his eyes-and his head-then snorted. "How do people come up with that crap anyway?" he huffed, shaking his head and leaning slightly against the door, keeping one hand on the wheel of 'his baby' as they drove along.

Sam laughed quietly. He looked back out the window, watching the scenery of fields quickly passing. He wanted to reach a town - the drives between always seemed to be awful, long, and hot. Not to mention the miles between bathroom breaks.

Dean noted Sam's temporary silence. "Want me to drive faster?" he asked, mostly teasing. The hardest thing about roadtrips... traveling the country... had always been one thing: Bathrooms. They were few and far between at times, and you ended up traveling several hundred miles without anywhere to stop.

Oh the childhood memories.

Sam rolled his eyes, lips pursed as he tried not to smile. He opened and closed his mouth, then ended up closing his eyes, huffing loudly despite the grin now on his face. "Well, if you see a Denny's..."

Dean laughed-grinning widely as he caught the reference to a childhood joke he and Sam had from when they were younger. He'd been eighteen, and Sam had been fourteen. They'd been hunting with John at the time. They'd been nearing the end of a sixteen hour drive from California to New Mexico...

"Yeah-Dad must've been suffering..." he snorted. "He was desperate-I swear, he was asking every few minutes if we saw a place to stop."

Sam looked down at his hands, still smiling, and now on the verge of laughter. "I was almost sure he was just going to exit the freeway via driving over the ditch into the Denny's parking lot."

"Yeah-he said he would've if we weren't there," Dean snorted. He ran a hand through his hair and chuckled. "As it was, he nearly hopped a curb going the back way from a hotel, remember?" Dean was grinning, still trying to keep from hooting out in laughter.

Sam laughed. "Yeah - and the other entrance, he was so positive that snow mound had been a curb."

Dean laughed at that. "I know-he wouldn't listen!" He laughed again. "By the time he finally found a way around, he slammed on the brakes as soon as we got a parking spot." Dean's green eyes sparkled with memory. "He threw open the door and bolted."

Amusement sparkled in Sam's hazel eyes. "It must have been torture up till then." The younger brother pressed fingers against his eyes, "The looks he got!"

"He totally didn't care... he was desperate." He chuckled. "Pick a seat, Boy! Be right back!" he impersonated his father's voice. "He was gone for... what? Seven minutes?"

"That must have been something to behold for anyone else in there," Sam joked, and shook his head subtly.

Dean rolled his eyes again, then burst out in more laughter as he pointed to a yellow and red themed building. "Speaking of..." A Denny's building was just ahead, right off the freeway exit.

Sam let out an odd sound, somewhat like a snickering guffaw. His eyebrows moved closer together, and he all but groaned, glancing between the restaurant and his brother. "Wanna grab a bite to eat?"

Dean smirked. "Oh... I don't know. Sure you don't have any other motives?" he teased, but all the same, he slowed and turned, exiting the freeway and heading down the ramp. He grinned at Sam for a moment.

Sam snorted and looked caught Dean with an incredulous stare. He shifted uncomfortably in the seat, and chose to stay silent.

Dean grinned and turned the car into a parking lot, at which point he pretended to change his mind. "You sure you don't wanna just pass by this nowhere town and get to Tulsa?" he asked, grinning, trying not to laugh.

Sam puffed out a noisy breath, and was already getting out of the car, long legs exiting first. The door groaned loudly, then creaked as it slammed shut. He made his way towards the Denny's entrance.

Dean laughed. "Get's funnier every time." He pulled the keys out and followed Sam, chuckling as he closed the door to the classic black car and walked toward the Denny's. "Run, Sam!" he kidded.

Sam shot a murderous glare over his shoulder, "Don't," he warned, yet as he looked away an annoyed smile tugged at his lips. He yanked open the door with more force than needed, and let it shut behind him.

Dean followed him in, humming and laughing softly to himself as he remembered that history so often repeats itself.

**Oh the memories. Dear ol' roadtrips...**

**Please review if you don't mind doing so. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Still don't own anything.**

The sun burned hot in the Arizona sky. The road wove back and forth through the seemingly endless mountains. A lone car traveled through the narrow roads. The black metal pulled in the heat from the sun, thus, the air conditioning was running full blast.

Dean glanced over at Sam, who'd fallen asleep in the passenger seat some time ago. Sam was gonna make him fall asleep looking like that. He huffed out a quiet laugh at the thought.

"Get the SALT!" Dean exclaimed, grinning as he waited for the reaction he knew would come.

Sam shot up in the bench seat, long legs scrambling and knees hitting the dashboard. He reached for the door handle; hazel eyes widened as he watched land moving by, mountains of the long twisting road they traveled. Drop offs and heights normally didn't bother Sam; but for this, he might make an exception. Between his mind being sent into a hunter-mode panic, and being drawn out of sleep so rudely... He let out a loud huff through his open mouth, which proceeded to clack shut with a click.

He shot his brother a disbelieving glare, swallowing and tipping his head to the right. He raised his arms in an annoyed, indignant gesture, before dropping his hands into his lap. "You're a Jer**K**, _De_an."

"Yeah? Whatever, B*tch," Dean laughed... and laughed, and kept laughing. Because honestly, that was a little funny, and by a little, he really meant a lot. "C'mon Sammy, that was funny. Admit it."

Sam continued to give him the same annoyed look. "Yeah, hilarious."

Dean grinned over at Sam for a second, then quickly turned his attention back to the road. He slowed down, turned, to avoid a VERY steep cliff. (complete with river and sharp rocks at the bottom.) "Okay, map, I think we're two hundred miles out of Phoenix," he said, nodding toward Sam as a 'check the map' cue.

Sam snatched the map from where he'd left it above the glove compartment, but still didn't let his eyes leave his brother for several long seconds. He gripped the map with both hands, unfolding it and jolted it back slightly. Only then did his eyes leave Dean. He subtly shook his head, and looked down at the map, shifting in his seat to hunch broad shoulders over, and started moving his finger over where he knew they had been last time he'd looked, to where they were now. "What was the last road name," he asked, hints of boredom and duty in his tone.

"Uh... think it was Wren, or some bird name," Dean stated with a vague expression as he tried to remember it. He looked around, seeing the endless mountains just... kept on going. It would be a while before they reached Phoenix.

"Hey, remember that time when we were kids... Dad took us to Phoenix and we got stuck on the freeway for two hours?" Dean asked, shaking his head at the memory.

"Yeah," Sam replied distantly, eyes scanning over the paper. "And then you started freaking out the people in the other cars? Not something I can easily forget," Sam nearly smiled, but fought it off.

Dean snorted and turned to grin at his HUGE-little-brother. "Oh don't act all innocent, you were right there beside me making faces at 'em too, C'mon, fess up," Dean thudded a fist against Sam's shoulder.

"No," Sam denied, lips continuously twitching as he kept fighting off the urge to smile. He didn't look at his brother - he already knew exactly what expression he was making. In fact, sometimes he thought he knew that expression better than he knew himself.

"Yes, you totally were. Remember that one time?" Dean snorted. "We were making faces at a lady, and we turned away for a second, then you looked back... looking kinda like a goblin, and instead of the lady, a biker dude was there?" Dean chuckled.

Sam finally gave into a laugh, albeit a soft, contained one. "He looked as surprised as I did," the once college student had a sideways, teeth-showing smile on his face. He shook the map, and refolded it, tossing it next to himself. "When we get out of the mountains there's a town we have to drive through."

Dean smiled in reverie, then nodded at Sam's last statement. "What KIND of town? A fun town, or more the... ugly-little-buildings-on -a-dirt-patch kinda town?"

Sam smirked. "My bet's on the latter." He leaned back against the seat, staring out the front windshield.

"Always is," Dean laughed, rolling his eyes. He glanced over the side of a rather ominous cliff and looked out at the valley below it. "Dude, Sam, if I was a girl... I dunno, like you-" he teased, then went on, "I'd want a picture of that."

Sam puffed, and hid his irritated, yet genuine smile.

**Looks like this car shot series may be revisited from time to time... Thanks for reading. God bless.**


End file.
